


Bad Blood

by PeterHaleforAlpha



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, M/M, episode 4x03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 20:52:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7656331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeterHaleforAlpha/pseuds/PeterHaleforAlpha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An aftermath scene of 4x03 "Bad Blood" in which the blood was not as fast out of Duke's system as it seemed. Nathan takes care of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bad Blood

When Nathan came back into the bullpen he immediately noticed that Duke was still sitting in a crouched position on the floor. He had seemed better, _okay_ , when Nathan left to check for any blood that they might have missed. Now Nathan wasn’t so sure anymore.   
He kneeled down next to Duke and at once Duke grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer. The movement came so sudden and unexpected that Nathan almost fell over. “Get Jennifer out of here,” Duke whispered into his ear.   
  
Nathan nodded, got up again and found Dwight to ask him if he would bring Jennifer back to the Gull. A few minutes later they were all alone. Dwight had taken Jordan, Jennifer and the troubled man with him to get them all home.   
  
“Come on,” Nathan said and pulled Duke up. Duke used Nathan as a support for walking. He was clearly _not okay_. Duke would never do this if he was able to walk alone, not with Nathan. At first Nathan had just wanted to put him on a chair, now he went in the direction of his office. Maybe a couch would be more comfortable.   
  
“It was too much,” Duke mumbled when Nathan let him down.  
“What? What do you mean?” Panic shot through him. He couldn’t watch Duke die. Not for him. Not again!  
  
Duke moaned and doubled over, pressing his arms against his stomach. “No, no, Duke, come on.” Nathan kneeled down, cupped Duke’s cheek and raised his head a little. “You are stronger than this.”  
  
“Stay away,” Duke snarled and closed his eyes. It looked like he was in so much pain and Nathan didn’t know what he could do to help. But he would definitely not stay away from him. No way he would leave Duke like this on his own.   
  
“What can I do?” he asked instead.  
Duke shook his head. “Please, Nate, go away.”  
“No,” Nathan said persistent. “I’m not leaving you. Just tell me what I can do to help. What do you need?”   
  
“I need you to stay away.” With every word Duke’s voice had gotten louder and then he opened his eyes. Nathan only saw a glimmer of silver before his surroundings were upside down. He found himself at the other side of the office, slumped against the wall. It didn’t matter, Nathan didn’t feel it anyway. So he just picked himself up, briefly looked over his body for any injuries and then walked slowly back over to Duke.  
  
“Easy, Duke,” he tried to calm him down.  
“It’s still all inside of me. I can feel it.”   
“Okay,” Nathan said. Duke’s eyes were back to normal again but Nathan wasn’t so sure if this meant anything. They had been normal before and still Duke had attacked him. Maybe he had pushed it down shortly or something like that. If all this blood was still affecting Duke he was a threat, a big one.   
  
“I felt it. I needed you to get Jennifer out of here.”   
“She is safe,” Nathan promised him. “She is home, with Dwight. She is okay.”   
Duke nodded, returning to a crouched position. “And now I need _you_ to go. You have troubled blood as well. I don’t know what I will do.”   
“You won’t hurt me!” Nathan was sure of that. There had been a time when he thought differently but he had just been stubborn, held a grudge against Duke for something that had nothing to do with what was happening to Duke now. It had been unfair of Nathan and he learned to see him from another point of view. Nathan was sure that Duke didn’t want to hurt anybody. It was only a trouble that Duke had no control over.   
  
“Nathan!” Duke’s head shot up and grabbed his collar. “I’m thinking about cutting your throat right now so I won’t take any chances. Get out of here.”   
“What about you?” He couldn’t leave Duke like this. He still wasn’t sure if this blood was dangerous to Duke in any other way. What if he died because he tried to fight the urge to kill?  
“I’ll be fine in a few hours probably. You saw how much blood it was. I just need time to properly absorb every little drop of it. And until then I’m dangerous.”   
  
Nathan didn’t like the idea to just let Duke alone, no matter how big of a threat he was for Nathan right now. Duke had done this to protect Nathan, to save his life, and Nathan would not just leave him behind with the consequences. “You won’t hurt me,” he repeated convinced.  
  
“God, Nathan, since when are you so damn stupid? I’m barely holding myself together. Just one slip of my mind and you’re dead.”  
Duke was probably right, Nathan knew that. Still he stayed right where he was. Duke hated his Trouble, was even afraid of it, and he only used it to save Nathan. The least Nathan could do now was to be there for Duke, show him that he wasn’t alone and that he wasn’t the monster he feared to become.   
  
“Not stupid, just stubborn.” Nathan grinned.  
“Damn it, Nathan, I don’t want to hurt you.”   
A few months ago Nathan would have laughed at this comment now he didn’t doubt any word of it. But he was also convinced that Duke wouldn’t. He fully trusted him. So he sat down next to Duke on the couch. “You really think you could hurt me?”   
  
Duke shook his head. “I don’t know and this fucking terrifies me. I _don’t_ want to, that’s for sure but I don’t have much control right now. I threw you across the room just a few moments ago, Nate, didn’t want to do this either.”   
“Didn’t hurt.”   
Duke huffed. “Sure it didn’t, you tough guy.”   
  
“Duke, I trust you,” Nathan said completely serious. “And I won’t leave you!”   
Another chuckle and Duke shook his head resignated. “I’m sure I liked you better when you still hated me.”   
  
This was clearly a surrender. Duke gave up and Nathan smiled triumphantly. “You still like me.”  
“True,” Duke admitted. “That’s why I have one last request. Sit at your desk, so you have at least time to react if I’ll go crazy.”   
  
Nathan still didn’t want to leave Duke’s side but he allowed Nathan to stay with barely fighting so Nathan owed him something. And maybe it was really safer. Duke tried to stay in control and it would probably be showing if he lost the fight. Nathan would have time to react then. So he stood up and walked over to his chair.   
  
  
It went quiet between them for a while. Nathan never once took his eyes off of Duke. He needed to make sure that he was okay, as okay as he could be in this situation. It seemed that Duke relaxed more and more with every passing minute.   
“How does it feel?” Nathan asked after some time. It had looked painful but would Duke really want more if it was like that?  
“It’s the best damn feeling I ever had,” Duke started talking. “I was high before. Man, I was high _with you_ but this is nothing compared to it. I feel invincible, like nothing can stop me. I feel strong and powerful. And it just feels _so_ good.”   
  
“It’s like a drug?”   
Duke shook his head. “Better, way better. I feel like I _belong_.”  
Nathan swallowed. He knew how many issues Duke had with this topic. He had never been very welcome in this town, even as a kid most of the people judged him because Simon was his father. And Nathan doubted that he found a place where it felt like home on his journey, instead he would never have come back.   
  
“I want more and more, every time I touch troubled blood.”   
“But you fight it?” The question came over his lips before Nathan had time to think. He was just in awe. He knew how compelling such feelings could be, how easy you could just forget everything else and still, Duke was fighting it. Nathan had always known that Duke was strong but right in this moment he realized how strong he really was.   
  
“Of course, Nate. I don’t want to _kill_ people.”   
“You won’t.”   
Duke looked up, stared at him incredulously. Of course, Duke didn’t look convinced. He already had killed and used his Trouble but only in situations where there was no other choice. Duke was no cold blooded killer and he would never be one.   
  
“You just saved my life with your Trouble. I know you don’t want to harm anyone.”   
Suddenly Duke turned away, looked down onto the floor. “I’m not so sure I will someday, Nate. With every time it gets harder to fight. Right now it’s overwhelming. All this blood in me. It makes me think that I could feel like that _all the time_. It’s easy, I just need to keep going. I already thought of five ways to kill you and this terrifies me. I’m so close to losing it.”  
  
“And still you sit there,” Nathan commented dryly.   
“Of course! Because I don’t want to fucking kill you, Nate. I just risked my own life for yours. Would be stupid to kill you right after that.”   
“Yeah you could have just let me die or kill me yourself.”   
“Nate, stop it, this isn’t funny.”   
  
“I’m being serious, Duke. I try to prove a point here.” Against Duke’s wish Nathan walked over to his friend again, kneeled down so that he could look into his eyes. “You _feel_ amazing when you absorb blood. You _want_ more every time. And you still _choose_ not to do anything. Even now you sit here, holding yourself together although it’s a struggle, although it’s so hard because you want more. But you don’t want to hurt or kill anyone. You don’t want to kill me. And this is a _choice_ , Duke. This will always be your choice. This Trouble doesn’t control you. You control it. You can choose what you want to do with it. If you use your immense strenght that comes with it to help people or if you use your absorbings skills to save your oldest friend from getting eaten by a pool of blood. This is all _your choice_.”  
  
“Nathan,” Duke whispered and closed his eyes.   
“I mean it, Duke.” Nathan cupped Duke’s cheek, needed Duke to feel him. “I know you won’t hurt anyone without a good reason.”   
  
“You really think I can control this?”   
Duke sounded hopeful and Nathan knew he was on the right path. “You are the strongest person I ever met. And the most selfless one as well. If anyone can do this, it is you.”   
A gentle smile flashed up on Duke’s lips for a brief moment and he opened his eyes again. “Never thought I would hear so many nice words from you.”   
  
“It’s a special occasion because you saved my life. Don’t get used to it.” Nathan knew that he didn’t say often enough how important Duke was to him. But he was. He was so important. Especially since the day he came back Nathan tried to keep an eye on him. He might not always be at his side because Nathan couldn’t afford this with his job but he always knew where Duke was most of the time. He would never lose him again, not if Nathan had something to say in this matter.   
  
“Have to save your butt more times then as it seems,” Duke joked.  
“As long as you don’t do something as incredible stupid as earlier I don’t mind how often you save my _butt_.”   
Duke sighed. “It was our only chance, Nathan. We had no other way to stop this Trouble and you know that.”   
“Still, didn’t like it,” Nathan mumbled.   
“Okay, noted. Will never absorb giant pool of blood again.”  
  
Nathan smiled halfheartedly. “How are you feeling by the way? Better?”  
“You mean less awesome? Less compelled to rip your throat out so that I can bath in your blood?” Duke grinned wickedly. “Yeah, it’s getting better. I think most of the blood is gone now.”   
“Good.” Nathan nodded. “And the next time you feel like this and you are not sure if you are strong enough, call me. Just call me.”   
Duke bit his lips, looked at Nathan for several seconds before answering, “I will.”


End file.
